Thanks to everyone who left reviews! I really appreciate it :) New Beginnings is a work in progress and currently sits at 41 chapters with maybe three to finish it before I move on to the sequel ;) So yes there will be more L&C episodes slotted in and also some comic/movie stuff.

Thanks for reading!!

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

Municipal Gardens – Metropolis – Mid Afternoon:

Lois stared out over the ocean, her gaze eventually flickering around again for signs that she was still alone. On the way there everybody had looked suspicious to her; their faces distorted, as if photographed up close with a wide-angle lens. It was creepy quite frankly. Her attacker could be anybody. Anybody she saw could be somebody else…

But she couldn't let it get to her – she wouldn't. It was exactly the kind of mind game he'd tried before.

She sighed deeply and leaned her head back, lifting the heels of her hands to press them against her eyes. And it was then she felt a gust of air brush across her forehead.

His deep voice sounded before she moved her hands, "Hello Lois."

Lois smiled a small smile, "Hi."

"Are you alright?"

Avoiding the warmth in the vivid blue of his eyes, she swallowed, grimacing at the ache in her throat as she focused on the glimmering surface of the water, "I'm not gonna be good company today I'm afraid. So if there's a siren sounding anywhere or a kitten stuck up a tree then you might be best zipping on over there."

"No sirens," His deliciously low, even voice told her, "No kittens."

Lois glanced briefly his way, "None? Anywhere?"

What were the odds?

"No," And his mouth hinted at one of those gentle smiles she knew would make her go misty eyed in her current emotional state, "Can I help?"

"Nope," She cut him some slack because it was hardly his fault after all, "I'm just having the day from hell."

"I see," He stepped forwards, unfolding the arms that had been crossed over the large 'S' and reaching a hand out to cup her chin in the crook of one forefinger.

While Lois looked at him with wide eyes, studying his face as he tilted her chin so his eyes could study her neck before fixing her with an intense gaze that knocked all logical thought out of her head.

"Is it painful?"

"Some." She replied in a voice that wasn't husky just because of near-strangulation.

"What caused it?"

"Someone tried to kill me," Funny how she could say it so calmly when in actuality it had opened an invisible door to emotions she was still struggling to put back in place. And between the attack and the literal door she had opened to memories she really hadn't wanted to revisit for as long as she lived, she supposed it was inevitable she'd say the things she had to Clark -not that he hadn't deserved them -

"I'm glad they didn't succeed," He let go of her chin and stepped back.

"Me too," She smiled weakly.

When he refolded his arms she smiled a little more. It was his trademark move, wasn't it?

"Would you like to talk?"

"Therapy part of your remit too is it?" She sighed the second the words left her smart mouth, "Okay – that was unfair. I'm sorry. I'm just a bit – raw – at the minute. Like I said; day from hell…"

"Perhaps talking it through would help."

"It's…" She moved her head from side to side as she searched for a way to explain it to him, "complicated. Human's are like that you'll find."

"I'm aware."

Lois' brows quirked, "Are they complicated where you come from?"

"I believe they were, yes."

"Were?" Past tense? He made it sound like –

He answered the question as if he genuinely could read her mind, "Krypton was destroyed when I was a child."

"Destroyed?"

"Yes."

Lois' eyes widened in disbelief, "And the people? All of them? As many as here on earth?"

"Yes."

Her breath caught, "And you're the only one who…?"

"There are others." His steady gaze remained fixed on her wide eyes, "Not many."

It was too awful to comprehend; an entire race of people – gone – just like that? A planet like earth with billions of men, women and children –

She slumped back against the wooden struts of the bench she was sitting on, her gaze focusing on the ocean, "Well that kinda puts my problems into perspective." She looked into his amazing eyes again, "How can you stand it?"

How did he? The thought made her ache for him.

"I can't change the past Lois."

Lois smiled as she shook her head, incredulity in her voice, "You know – that's the second time someone has said that to me today…"

There was a barely perceptible quirk of one dark brow, "Indeed?"

"Indeed," When she mimicked the deep tone of his voice and his eyes glowed in response, she smiled again, momentarily distracted by that thing he always managed to do to her pulse. And then she blinked hard, her gaze lowering briefly to the 'S' where it was stretched wide across his broad chest – the one he had said wars were fought over. Had they fought over it on his own world, was that what he'd meant?

"Lois?"

"Is that why you do what you do here - because you couldn't save the people on your own planet?"

There was a pause and then; "I do it because I can."

Her chin lifted so she could study him with hooded eyes. She knew she thought it every time she saw him but he really was something, wasn't he? Had he any idea how amazing he was? He considered it his responsibility to help others just because he could. Who did that? Someone with as strong a heart as the rest of him was she silently answered herself. But he could have chosen to take over the planet like the end-of-the-world club would like to believe he would. He could have chosen to deliver the hand of justice a lot more brutally than he had. There were a million things he could have done and no-one would have been able to stop him, would they? But he had chosen to help; calmly, quietly, faithfully – and without ever asking for any kind of a reward, not even a 'thanks'…

It made her ache all over again. If only there were more people who thought the way he did – there was a shortage of heroes in the world, she knew. Because she'd seen too many things in her line of work not to know how much the world needed them - and if she hadn't been cynical before she saw the things she had, well…

When she turned her face away from his steady gaze his deep voice broke the silence, even softer than before, "There is more good here than you might believe Lois."

"We might have to agree to disagree on that one. Though you're probably safe enough saving the under twenties – anything above that and the goodness in people can be a tad harder to find in my experience."

"There's no-one you believe in?"

Apart from him? Lower lip trembling the tiniest amount, she sucked in a shaky breath and blew it out between tight lips, "Fewer and fewer as I get older. Maybe one day soon I'll learn not to hope there might be more."

The reply was steady, "You should never lose hope Lois."

"Well, you know, it's a bit like a set of car keys. You know you left them somewhere but when you go looking for them…" She frowned up at him from the corner of her eye, "Okay, so that's probably not a good analogy for you. Don't s'pose you ever forget where you left your cape?"

"No."

"Course not…"

After a long moment of silence when Lois mentally kicked herself in the ass for sounding so stupid in front of him, his voice eventually sounded again, still low, still steady, still filled with the warmth she found herself relying on so heavily these days…

"There's no-one you can talk to about the things that trouble you?" He inclined his head a little, as if searching for something in her face, "The friend you mentioned - Clark?"

Lois pulled a face, "Would it be okay if we didn't talk about him?"

"Complicated?"

"Yuh-huh."

He kept pushing, gently, with his oh-so-blue gaze still fixed on hers so she didn't put up her defenses the way she normally did, "No-one else?"

It brought a surge of emotion so strong that she almost doubled over with the pain of it, her vision blurring as she rolled her eyes, "There was – is – that is there still is. I just – well, I can't – and you have no idea how much I need to – seriously…"

Dark brows rose in question.

And Lois fought to try and speak - she did - swiping the end of her overly long sleeve against her cheek when a tear had the audacity to escape, "I have a cousin. But I'm not allowed – you see it's not safe for her – so I can't-"

Oh-come-on! She was back to not being able to string a sentence together? It was just that the subject of Chloe –

"Wait here."

"Why? Where-" But he was gone in a sudden gust of wind and a flash of red and blue, leaving Lois gaping at the sky. Kitten alert possibly? Swiping at her cheeks with her sleeve covered hands she sniffed loudly as she blinked at the ocean. Okay. So if she was planning on being friends with a superhero she should really get used to this kind of thing, shouldn't she? It was just as well she hadn't been weeping all over his giant muscular chest at the time really - because if she had been – that abrupt exit might have bothered her…

Not that any man on the planet enjoyed the sight of a woman crying any more than Lois enjoyed being the woman doing the crying.

Another sudden gust of wind blew stands of hair into her eyes, snagging them in her eyelashes and forcing her to take a second to pluck them free before she could look at the hand held out in front of her.

"Come with me."

Without thinking about it, she placed her hand in his, vaguely aware that his cape was still swaying around his long legs from his landing. There was something very sensuous about the gentle swaying of that cape, "Where am I going?"

He tugged her gently to her feet, "Place your feet on mine again."

They were going flying? Lois felt a smile working its way onto her face. Now here was a guy who knew how to make a girl feel better!

When she'd set her trainer clad feet on his boots and he'd placed a strong arm around her waist she lifted her chin and looked deep into his eyes, "Now this is nearly worth squeezing a tear or two out for."

He smiled one of those smiles, "Hold on tight."

It didn't take much persuasion. And when she had her arms around the thick column of his neck she even allowed her thumbs to brush against the tips of his luxurious hair at the base of his skull, "Kitten okay was it?"

"Kitten?"

"The one you zipped off to rescue."

"No kitten. I had a call to make."

A burst of soft laughter escaped from her parted lips as she felt the same light-headed sensation she'd felt the last time he'd taken her flying, "No cell-phone?"

"No."

"I could lend you one. I have lots of them."

"No need."

And no pockets in that form fitting suit of his either she supposed, but she teased him regardless, "Faster than a dialing number – even on speed dial, right?"

Another of those smiles and then he lifted his chin and looked skywards, a fisted hand stretched above his head as he arched his back and they slid higher into the air. And Lois took a glance down at the amazing sight of the disappearing ground below them, she did, but somehow the fact that she was ending up lying along the length of his solid, heated-by-the-suit body was more interesting to her…

If she lied to herself she could say her sudden fascination with whether or not he was equally as effected by the proximity of their bodies was an occupational hazard; the reporter in her still gathering information. But it had more to do with that most basic of feminine fascinations; her mind forming a long, long list of questions about superpowers versus control in a one-one-one male/female situation. But then maybe Jimmy had been right – maybe he didn't feel those urges? Lois hoped that wasn't the case – what with him being the last of his race and all…

And because she really did have the most sinful thoughts when he was around… in fact, she was more than a little disappointed when he floated them upright again.

His chin dropped, "Turn around."

It occurred to her she'd never, ever allowed a man to boss her around the way he did, immediately and more to the point – without complaining - doing as she was told and relying on him to guide her into position the way he had before. Only this time when he had an arm around her waist and her hand in his and he dropped forwards so she could see the amazing panorama below her, his smooth cheek was pressed next to hers and his voice was a low rumble in her ear,

"You may need to close your eyes for a while. The increase in speed will make it difficult to see properly."

They were gonna go fast? The adrenalin junkie in her danced with glee, it was exactly the kind of thing she needed to take her mind off her earth-bound problems, "How fast exactly?"

"Close your eyes Lois."

She did, her breath catching when she felt the wind whipping against her face and flicking her hair against her cheeks. And with her eyes closed all of her other senses were heightened; touch most of all. She could feel everywhere her body touched his, could feel the warmth of the suit at her back, could feel the steel band of his arm around her waist, could feel the heat of his hand holding hers. And if she focused really hard she even thought she could feel his heart beating…wow.

Flying with him rocked. And it was so easy to get lost in those sensations, to forget everything else and just live in the moment. She could have stayed up there forever.

But feeling that way meant she wasn't aware of how long, or how far away from Metropolis they flew. In fact it wasn't until they were slowing down and he was floating upright and turning her in his arms that she opened her eyes. And at that stage she was so busy staring at him as he dipped his chin to focus on wherever it was he was lowering them to that she didn't even care where they were.

She barely felt it when his feet touched the ground.

His chin lifted and he looked deep into her eyes, a slow smile growing on the curve of his mouth while Lois watched, mesmerized,

"We're here."

Lois blinked her brain back into gear, "Where?"

Looking to her left as she stepped back off his feet she could see they were high up, on a stone balcony of some kind with a valley of trees and a river sweeping out below them beyond the walls of a formal garden. But it was when she turned and looked to her right, his arm loosening to allow her to step free that her breath caught and her heart screeched to a halt.

Because there… in a room beyond large open doors was…

"Oh my god," Exhaling the words, she felt a tidal wave of emotion well up inside her, tears filling her eyes as she ran into the room, "Chloe!"

They threw themselves into a tight hug filled with tears and laughter, Lois not giving a damn if her cheeks were soaked when she leaned back to look into her cousins face.

"Hey cuz." Chloe's cheeks were equally as damp.

Lois laughed again, hiccupping on a sob that became a soft burst of laughter, "Hey. God I've missed you!"

Chloe's large eyes shimmered, "Me too. I'm so glad you're here."

Lois leaned back a little and turned her face towards the open doors and the silent man stood on the balcony. He had his hands on his hips, his cloak billowing out behind him and even though she couldn't read anything from his expression she could feel his warmth from clean across the room.

Ss she cleared her throat, her lower lip trembling as she whispered the words in a husky voice, "Thank you."

And she didn't know how he had known where her cousin was, or if he knew how much it meant to Lois to get to see her again – even briefly. But she loved him for doing it.

He smiled a small smile, nodding once, "I'll be-"

"I know."

Holding her gaze for long enough to tell her he knew she knew, he then glanced at Chloe, giving her a nod before lifting his arm and floating upwards – out of sight.

"New friend?" Chloe asked.

Lois smiled as she looked back at her, "Pretty amazing, huh?"

"Hmm," Chloe's eye's danced with amusement, "Looks like we have a lot of catching up to do…"

Lois grinned, hugging Chloe tightly to her, her chin resting on her shoulder, "In a minute." Because she just needed to hold her close and know that she was there, that she was safe, "Oh Chlo – today just got so much better - you have no idea –"

Gotham City – Night:

Clark adjusted his speed, read the air currents as easily as breathing in and out, and landed silently on the top edge of the building. Well, he thought he had…

"Superman."

"Quiet night?" Clark folded his arms and looked out over the darkening city. Every city he had ever visited in the world had a different heart-beat and Gotham was no different - bit darker than he preferred on a personal level though. Only natural since his strength came from the yellow sun, he supposed.

"So far."

Clark singled out the city sounds one by one, just to be sure. But Bruce obviously knew his city, "Anything out of the ordinary lately?"

"Sporadically. He's playing a clever game."

Always had done. But at least Clark wasn't having to try and figure him out on his own anymore, though the bitterness of what his absence had done to others while he'd been away still burned in his stomach like acid might have if he hadn't been immune to it's effects. And he had a feeling he was only beginning to scratch the surface of how the experiences had effected Lois. He should have thought of bringing her to Chloe/Vicki as Superman earlier.

Lois had been many things since they'd first met but it was the rare glimpses of her vulnerability that always touched him the deepest, thrumming at a chord in his soul. She wasn't even in the region of the kind of woman he would have seen himself in a relationship with. But then his choices in the relationship department had never been all that successful, had they? What Lois did – was doing more with each passing day – was make him firmer in his resolve that the path he had chosen was the right one. That very vulnerability he was glimpsing in someone so strong in so many other ways…

Well, it made him want to fight all the harder, didn't it? It made him want to restore the hope she had lost, made him want to stand up for the good in the world so she could see it more clearly. It just made him want to be the kind of man she could –

What?

"Vicki seemed thrilled with the idea of a visit from her cousin…"

Clark looked at Bruce from the corner of his eye, unable to read his expression with the half-mask in place. Not that Bruce was ever that easy to read, "I should have thought of it earlier. They both needed it."

Bruce nodded, "Indeed."

It made Clark smile as he thought of Lois mimicking him when he'd used the same word earlier. It would just be nice if she could be the same way with him as she was with him. But as Clark he'd done more damage to their relationship than he'd realized.

"Let's hope it wasn't a risky move – for either of them," Bruce's jaw clenched beneath the mask, his voice gravelly, "For our sakes too. As I was recently informed; forming an attachment can prove a weakness when the battle is eventually fought."

It was a small window into Bruce's relationship with Vicki that made Clark study the darkly dressed man all the more. Really? Dark and dangerous was what she went for now? But then knowing the girl she'd been before he could see how she would, in all probability, be a good match for him. She of all people would understand his dual identity, she would never let any dark moods last for long, and she'd be supportive and loyal and would work with him to protect the people in the city they lived in.

Clark only hoped Bruce understood how lucky that made him…because if she was pointing out to him that a relationship with her was a chink in his defenses then they were obviously involved…

But before he could say anything sirens sounded in the distance and Bruce crouched. So Clark took a breath, "You want the one on the left or the one on the right?"

"Right."

"Right," Clark watched as he sprung from the corner of the tall building, his dark cloak immediately snapping out to form a rigid glider so that he became an ominous shadow in the dim light. Okay, so there were certain things about Bruce he could understand the Chloe of old being impressed by. She'd think that move was 'smokin' cool', wouldn't she? But then Clark had never been much for image or gadgets.

He'd never had much of a need for the latter after all. But possibly having a little more of an opinion on the former might have helped with how the suit had turned out for him. 'Make whatever adjustments you like' he'd told Oliver foolishly when he brought them the rough sketches at Queen Industries. They knew what they were doing he'd reckoned. But if he'd kept a closer eye on what he would end up wearing he might not have ended up with the colour coordinating underwear on the outside…

He pursed his lips with determination as he lifted into the air towards the sound of the second siren. Because he still owed Oliver for that one…

Circus strongman inspired his rear!

Wayne Manor – Outside Gotham City:

The cousins were sat on a long sofa, Lois cross legged while she cradled a mug of coffee in both hands and studied Chloe, "That's quite the make-over the witness protection program gave you."

"Are we making a comment on my former Martha Stewart meets girl next door image?"

"Nope, we liked that – it's more of a case of the green eyed monster when it comes to the designer label you're wearing…"

Chloe rolled her eyes and grinned; dimples flashing, "This old thing?"

Lois smiled from behind the rim of her cup as she looked around the large room with its wooden paneling and high ceiling. She'd missed the nights when they would sit the way they were now; the two of them chatting up a storm as if they'd never been apart. But dressed in worn jeans and a huge comfy sweater with her hair bunched back in a loose pony tail while the new Chloe was so elegant and polished and poised –

It was a tad disconcerting. Chloe seemed to have blossomed in her new life while Lois? Well Lois couldn't help but think her life was still as much of a chaotic mess as it had always been…

"Quite the pad you have here too - with a butler no less. Maybe I should have gone with the program too…"

Chloe lifted a finely arched brow, "Well it's not like we didn't try talking you into it."

"I wasn't giving him anything else Chlo – and hiding you was more important," She shrugged, "Wasn't me he wanted. I was a means to an end."

"And still are - you know that, don't you?"

She lifted her chin defiantly, "Hey – you know me – he could try it," When Chloe looked skeptical she smiled a softer smile and added, "And anyway – I have a bone fide superhero looking out for me these days."

"Yeah, I noticed that. So where'd you find him then?"

"We-lll, you know, I was just hanging around," She waved a hand in the air, "And he kinda popped up outta no-where."

"And you fell for him?"

"Literally," She sighed dramatically and laughed when Chloe laughed, "I was falling out of a helicopter at the time. I'm not the only one he flies around saving. But he's…"

Chloe stifled another smile, "He's?"

Lois could feel heat rising on her cheeks, her shoulder rising again, "Well he is."

"Mmm-hmm, I see," Chloe stuck the end of her tongue into her cheek but couldn't keep a straight face for long, laughing as she let her cousin off the hook to ask something that made Lois grimace, "And how's it going with your new partner?"

"Hmmm…"

"That bad?"

"We had a fight today."

"About anything in particular or because it's what you always used to do and old habits die hard?" Chloe turned and tucked one leg beneath her, "I can hardly remember a time when you two didn't fight. Or at least bounce off each other."

"Yeah, well, that was a long time ago," She took a sip of lukewarm coffee and looked around the room again. They'd agreed within five minutes that the less Lois knew about where she was the better and Lois saw the wisdom in that. But it didn't stop her from doing what she always did and memorizing her surroundings – it was a knee-jerk reaction; her gaze falling on a framed coat of arms sitting on a shelf of the floor to ceiling bookcase behind her cousin,

"We've spent as many years apart as we did getting on each other's nerves."

"Is he different from the way you remember him?"

"I guess," She didn't want to talk about Clark, the bitterness of the words she'd thrown at him still sitting on the back of her tongue, "Is that a real Renoir over there?"

"Probably," She heard Chloe sigh, her voice filled with infinite patience, "If I tell you something about Clark that might help soften your opinion of him a little will you listen?"

The question brought her gaze swiftly back to Chloe's face, a frown forming when she saw the inner battle in her eyes, "Depends on what it is…"